


Forever in My Clouded Castles of Gold

by Dreadful Weather Today (TearoomSaloon)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Melancholy, Mind Palace, Mizumono Spoilers, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 09:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1683221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TearoomSaloon/pseuds/Dreadful%20Weather%20Today
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's locked so much up in this palace, in this castle of his. He hides things deep inside its pockets, like storage space for his mind, his heart. There are demons behind the doors, but far, far inside the center lies his truth, his hurt. She's so lovely when her eyes hold no fear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever in My Clouded Castles of Gold

He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. His fingers know the doorknobs like old friends, though he hasn’t touched them in a while. This room in his mind palace has been gathering dust for months, but he feels that maybe now it’ll be safe to go in, the demons vacating to other, darker corners.

The smell of cherries laps over him like a steady tide, ebbing and flowing through his bones. The room is abnormally bright and a fire blazes quietly and steadily, heating the space with little crackles and sizzles, sap burning in the heat. It was a cool winter, he remembers, and the woman on his bed is shrouded in his blue blankets. She smiles warmly at him, heating up his chest and shoulders.

"Alana."

"Hello, Hannibal. I haven’t seen you in a while."

He nods, soaking up the radiance of her memory. She’s beautiful and sweet, no trace of fear in her eyes. He’s idealized her, remembering her through all their soft glances and kind touches.

"I’ve missed you."

He approaches the bed slowly, relishing this moment, this recreation. He strokes her cheek with his knuckles, trailing down her pale skin like a waterfall over smooth rocks, shaping her, creating her. He feels the smallest stab of guilt for doing so, knowing he could have had her physically beside him if only he’d tried harder.

But then it wouldn’t’ve been genuine.

Tucking her dark silk hair behind an ear, he bends down to kiss her, his fingertips hot like the first time she’d leaned in to him, the first time he’d cradled her head and she’d bit his lips with some previously unknown tenderness.

Tender, that was the word for her. She was always tender with him, up until the end, up until he’d hurt her so badly, so terribly—

The lighting in the room darkens as he loses his composure for a split second. No negative thoughts, not in this room. Not now, not with her.

He moves to sit beside her on his bed, wrapping an arm affectionately around her waist. She ducks her head to rest upon his shoulder and a new sensation spikes through his chest. It aches dully, but it’s also sharp, demanding to be noticed. Like a weight—heavy and constricting—tied around his heart. Oh, so that’s what this is like. That’s how it feels. Like a bird struck from the sky.

"I’ve missed you too, my love."


End file.
